The Devil in Still Waters
by Lashworthe
Summary: To make sure there aren't more hidden enemies from his father's past, Tony digs into his father's belongings. He's shocked to find his father's estate has been sending money to 'Dream' in Russia for years. Tony travels to Russia and meets Loki who is searching for his father. As their lives tangle together they discover they might be more like their fathers than they ever thought.


Papers. Always with the papers. There were several forests worth of papers sitting on his desk and Tony Stark wanted nothing to do with any of them. "Pepper these papers are older than me." Tony groaned. "Can't someone just digitize them and have Jarvis run a scan for anything actually important?"  
"We need to make sure there's nothing else about this Vanko in any of your father's records. We dug these up from the vault where Obi...Mr. Stane had sealed your parents personal belongings." Pepper said.  
It was still strange seeing her in casual clothes, in a casual part of Tony's life. There were no terms about what they were, friends who kissed? Tony still wasn't sure, he wasn't good with labels. Pepper was safe, familiar against the chaos of the rest of the world, but she felt like the office, not home. Not that Tony really knew what home actually felt like, that wasn't in his experiences.  
"Yeah, I'm sure dad was penpals with all the Russian spies. Come on Pepper. He might've been an asshole but he was as American as Cap's spangly shield." Tony sighed but shuffled through a few papers.  
They worked in silence, Pepper laying out her papers in organized piles while Tony just balled up and tossed anything he didn't think was useful, which was everything.  
Pepper finally sighed and stood up to stretch. "8 already?" She said as she looked at the clock.  
"Got a hot date?" Tony teased.  
"I do actually." She said, putting her things in her bag  
"You what?"  
She put her bag over her shoulder and turned towards Tony. "Tony."  
Serious voice time Tony decided and crossed his arms to look up at Pepper.  
"I can't be working for you and dating you."  
"I made you CEO so technically I work for you." He said.  
"We both know that's not true." She sighed. "I've thought about it a lot and... I don't want a life where all I have is you." She said then quickly added, "I want you in my life but I want a life outside of Stark Industries. I want to see who else is out there. I've spent years doing nothing but working, and it's been great but nearly being killed by insane men tends to make you think a little."  
Tony nodded. "Yeah, it does."  
She walked over to him and kissed the top of Tony's head. "There's no way you're getting rid of me Tony, but I need a life outside of yours."  
Tony nodded like he understood. He didn't.  
"I'll be back by tomorrow, don't forget about that board meeting." She said as she headed for the door.  
Tony stared at the piles of paper and watched the door close behind her.  
Three shots of whiskey later, Tony flung papers across the den. This was another waste of time. He couldn't get away from having nothing but Stark in his life but Pepper got to walk away? Not fair.  
He sat down and shook his head. "Way to think like a four year old brat." He muttered to himself and flipped a few more pages over. These pages were a little less yellowed with age and were filled with pages of numbers. Numbers he could focus on and deal with it. Numbers didn't hide meanings behind him that he had to waste his time trying to figure out. Not to mention his father had never been able to write an entertaining sentence in his life; Tony had discovered even his journals had been dull, boring collections of facts.  
He sighed and look over the numbers, accounting it looked like, the same amount, $5000 dollars every month to something labeled мечтать. Well that was Russian if Tony ever saw it. "Jarvis, what's this word mean?" He asked.  
"Translates to mean "dream" most closely." Jarvis responded.  
"So dad was paying some Russian named 'Dream' 5 grand a month?" Tony groaned and flipped through the pages. "Shit this started in the 70s and kept on through..." He flipped through more pages. "...wait what? Jarvis, search Howard Stark payments made to this мечтать. When was the last payment?"  
"Last payment was withdrawn from the account two months ago. A check was sent last month but it has not been cashed."  
"Shit. Where are the payments being sent?"  
"To a street address in Saint Petersburg." Jarvis responded.  
Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Dad, what the hell were you doing..." He muttered then asked Jarvis, "Any mention of this in Dad's will?"  
"Yes. There is a contract stipulation that a 20 million dollar inheritance, sent in $5,000 payments, should be sent to мечтать at that address."  
"Who are the checks made out to?" He asked.  
"Checks are addressed to a L. Alkaev." Jarvis responded.  
Tony leaned back and tried to think. His father had set his will up to pay someone in Russia for a long time. What was that about? And seriously, naming it 'dream' in Russian, that made it sound like some stripper name...  
Tony sat up. "Shit, I bet dad got some Russian prostitute knocked up and was paying her to keep quiet. Shit."  
He started pacing, if there was some half-sibling of his out there that was Russian... who's to say another Vanko wasn't just around the corner? "Jarvis, contact my jet. I want a flight to St. Petersburg first thing tomorrow."  
"Sir-"  
"Pepper can handle a board meeting. I never go anyways." He said as he walked to his room and started throwing things into his luggage. What was the weather even like in Russia in October? "Better pack a bit of everything." He said to himself.  
He spent the night rummaging through his own things, packing more beer than anything else. Russians knew vodka, but he didn't trust them with anything besides that. The jet was waiting for him when he got to the airport at buttcrack of dawn. Nice that his own planes actually waited for him now. He settled in and smiled at the scantily clad stewardesses. They wall waved and had his favorite breakfast, a hamburger, ready for him.  
He ate, drank and made merry the entire flight across the Atlantic.

Russia was cold in October apparently. Colder than California and Tony briefly regretted wearing a t-shirt for the trip but he could buy a jacket or send someone out to buy a jacket for him. As he walked through the airport, his phone buzzed and Pepper's icon vibrated across his screen. He picked up, "Hello my dear Miss Potts."  
"Why are you in Russia?" She asked.  
"Jarvis ratted me out that quickly huh?"  
"He sent me an email at 3 in the morning saying you had just left for the airport."  
"I found something in my dad's stuff. I'm investigating to make sure everything's all fine."  
'Tony, we can send someone to look into this."  
"Well I'm already here so just let me handle this, okay?"  
She sighed and Tony could just picture that little frown muscle between her eyes pinching together, how she didn't have a permenant line there after years of working for Tony was a mystery.  
"Look, I'm not going to do anything, I just need to figure this out. He was my old man and I deserve to do this."  
"Tony." Another sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll tell the board you're scooping out new international possibilities."  
"See, this is why you're the CEO, you've got the best ideas Pep."  
She laughed. "Just be home soon, alright?"  
"Sure thing." He promised before hanging up and getting his passport stamped.  
In one of the crappy little airport shops he bought a Russian guide, he'd really need to pick up the language. Had his dad spoken Russian? Tony had no idea, and even if he had spoken the language, it's not like he would have told Tony. Tony snorted, yeah, having an affair with some Russian prostitute named Dream seemed exactly like something his father would do. Keeping it hidden from everyone and discreetly paying her to keep quiet? Also sounded like textbook Howard Stark.  
Anything to keep the legacy alive and well and to hell with the actual people.  
He shook his head and hopped into a cab. "Take me to the nicest hotel in the city." He said.  
The driver grunted and took off. Tony sure hoped the guy spoke English and wasn't about to take him to some crap hole place. After the nearly 16 hour long flight, he wanted a bath and a drink, then he'd deal with finding this dream character.

Notes:

So I couldn't resist the lure of this idea so I had to post something. It might be a bit before the next chapter is posted.

PS I do not speak Russian so I'm trying my best with translations.


End file.
